


Rescue and Recovery

by Hazel_Athena



Category: Magnum P.I. (2018)
Genre: Established Relationship, Light Angst, Light Whump, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-17
Updated: 2020-02-17
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:34:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22763308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hazel_Athena/pseuds/Hazel_Athena
Summary: He’s not expecting the speed with which Katsumoto turns around, and he has to stomp down on years worth of honed instincts not to react poorly when a soapy hand comes out of nowhere to curl dripping fingers around his chin and tilt his head back. “Gordon, what the hell?”Katsumoto’s eyes narrow, and his piercing gaze rakes him up and down. “You have a rope burn on your neck.”
Relationships: Gordon Katsumoto/Thomas Sullivan Magnum IV
Comments: 12
Kudos: 126





	Rescue and Recovery

**Author's Note:**

> This one’s been hanging out in my drafts for months now. I kind of still want to tweak it, but I also know better, lol. Hope y’all enjoy. Goes AU sometime around Season One, I guess.

Kyle Rivers, Magnum decides, is a sick son of a bitch. He can handle the perps who beat on him, who threaten, who pull weapons he wishes they wouldn’t, but this afternoon is shaping up to be a whole new bundle of crazy. The kind where he is decidedly not enjoying himself.

“Come on,” Rivers snaps, jerking Magum out of his reverie by tugging on the rope he has slung around his neck. “I said get up!”

Magnum glares at him as best as he’s able. Unfortunately, with his hands behind his back and his own gun in Rivers’ hand, that’s the only thing he can do. That and climb up onto the step stool like he’s been told.

“Good, that’s good,” Rivers says, something decidedly alarming gleaming in his eyes. Magnum has no idea how he’s managed to fool so many people into thinking he’s just a regular guy, especially now when he looks halfway to feral. “Now don’t move again unless I say so.”

Since moving at this point would be a very bad idea, Magnum does as he’s told. He stays exactly where he is and watches with gritted teeth as Rivers loops the free end of the rope around an exposed pipe in the basement ceiling, dragging it downwards until it pulls taught and forces him up onto his tiptoes.

“Hope your balance is good,” Rivers says smugly. “Otherwise this game is going to end pretty fast.”

“You and I have very different views on what constitutes a game,” Magnum rasps out, his voice off thanks to the way the rope is pulling tight around his throat. “Like, really different.”

Rivers shrugs, apparently unconcerned. Then he picks up Magnum’s cellphone and begins fiddling with it. “I hope the last person you spoke to is someone who cares about you,” he says idly, “because they’re going to be the only one who can save you.”

Magnum tries to remember who that was, and then has to fight to keep a grimace off his face when he realizes it was Katsumoto. He’s never going to hear the end of this one.

He watches as Rivers hits a series of keys on his phone before bringing the thing to his ear. He can tell the exact moment when Katsumoto picks up, the event signalled by an irritating smirk that crosses Rivers’ face.

Magnum waits as patiently as possible while Rivers has what by all accounts looks like an idle chat on his end. He has no doubt that Katsumoto is getting increasingly irritated by the conversation, but mainly he just wants it to end. He’s already getting tired from standing like this.

Much to his surprise, Rivers ends the call be giving Katsumoto the actual address of where they’re standing and telling him the true nature of the predicament Magnum’s currently in. He’d expected the man to lie.

Then again, it’s clear Rivers isn’t exactly playing with a full deck, so maybe this is just par for the course for him.

“Your friend has a real mouth on him,” Rivers says cheekily. He tosses Magnum’s phone onto a nearby workbench and shrugs into his coat. “I’d kind of like to stick around to meet him, but I don’t think he’s going to want to see me when he gets here. Catch you later.”

It’s one of the more bizarre exits Magnum’s seen a bad guy make since he started in this business, and he can’t help but wonder if Rivers really thinks he’ll get far. Yeah, whoever comes in here first will prioritize getting him down, but the killer’s given himself barely any head start, and they know where he’s heading anyway. Sometimes Magnum just despairs of people, he really does. 

He estimates maybe ten minutes pass before he hears the telltale sound of the front door being open, followed by heavy footsteps treading up above him. A pair of familiar voices discuss possible entrances to the basement, and the next thing he knows, TC and Katsumoto are thundering downstairs.

Magnum gives them his best grin as they approach. “Hey guys, what took you so long?”

Rolling his eyes, TC curls his arms around Magnum’s knees, strong and steady and holding him in place. Then, off to the side there’s a scraping sound that turns out to be Katsumoto dragging a chair over from a corner of the room.

“Easy, Thomas,” TC says when the noise startles him, making him jerk and twist, almost spilling him off the stool without meaning to. “Don’t move, big guy. We’re gonna get you down.”

Magnum tries to nod, tries to signal some kind of affirmative action to show he understands, but the rope curled around his neck makes that impossible. Instead, he’s forced to stay where he is, now pouring all his concentration into staying upright until it’s safe to move again.

There’s a thudding sound in front of him, and Katsumoto appears in his line of vision, standing on the chair he’s found for himself, a pocketknife displayed prominently in one hand. 

“Just hang on,” he says when he notices the way Magnum’s eyes are tracking the path of the knife. “TC’s right. We’re going to get you out of this. I need you to hold still, though, okay? Can you do that?”

“Yeah,” Magnum rasps. His voice sounds ragged in his ears, but Katsumoto seems to appreciate it if the relieved way he nods is anything to go by. “Do what you need to.”

“Right.” Nodding again, Katsumoto raises the knife and begins sawing through the braided rope, careful not to hit any exposed skin in the process. “Keep him steady, TC. I don’t want him falling before this is done. The amount of paperwork I’d get stuck with would be a nightmare.”

Unable to help himself, Magnum laughs, and at least some of the tension he’s been feeling since Rivers had left him here - stung up and ready to die - bleeds its way out of his system. “You’re such an asshole,” he chokes out. “My god.”

“You bring it out in me,” Katsumoto assures him. “And what did I tell you about holding still? If you topple off this stool before I’ve got enough of this cut away, it’s not going to be pretty.”

“Listen to the man, Thomas,” TC says from where he’s sandwiched in between the two of them. “I make no promises about being able to hold your fat ass up indefinitely, so don’t make things any harder.”

“If it wouldn’t likely make me hang myself, I’d be kicking you in the face right now,” Magnum grunts. “It’s important to me that you know that.”

“If it wouldn’t likely do the same thing, I’d throttle you myself for putting us all through this,” TC shoots back. “Do you have any idea how much we’ve been freaking out today? Honestly, you’re the worst.”

“I second that,” Katsumoto chimes in. “However, you’re also almost free. Just one more second ...” He lets out a triumphant noise, and Magnum sighs in relief as he feels the coarse rope snap away from his throat. “Got it! TC, catch him when he falls, his arms are still tied.”

Trying to say he’s not going to fall, Magnum isn’t expecting it when his knees give out, and that’s exactly what happens. Luckily, as his bound hands would’ve been no help in catching himself, TC proves to be more than up to the task, as is Katsumoto, who grabs him by the shoulders to help keep him upright.

Katsumoto makes a noise of surprise when he winds up supporting more of Magnum’s weight than anticipated, and TC snickers in agreement. “He’s heavier than he looks, isn’t he?”

“I’m feeling a little picked on here, you guys,” Magnum grumbles when Katsumoto nods. “Can you please just get me all the way down?”

“That’s what we’re trying to do.” Climbing off his chair first, Katsumoto gets his own feet firmly planted on the ground, and then reaches up to help Magnum follow suit. “Here,” he says, motioning with one hand once Magnum’s standing as he should be. “Turn around and let me get your hands.”

Doing as he’s told, Magnum shifts around and hunches forward to allow access to where his hands are bound behind his back. “Is this good enough?”

“It’s fine,” Katsumoto replies. He lets out a low whistle when he starts cutting, sounding impressed in spite of himself. “This guys knows his way around knots.”

“Can we maybe not praise the lunatic who tried to kill me?” Magnum asks plaintively. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees TC start to move around the room, inspecting the makeshift prison. “It really wasn’t necessary for him to go so far.”

“No, it wasn’t,” Katsumoto agrees, “and we’re not going to let him get away with it. Higgins and Rick split off from us when the call came in. They’re heading to his getaway spot with a bunch of my people, while we deal with you. Rivers isn’t going anywhere.”

Admittedly pleased to hear that, Magnum grunts when his hands finally snap free. Bringing them up to massage some feeling back into them, he turns to look at Katsumoto over his shoulder.

The glib response he’d been thinking of making does on his lips when he sees the dark look on the other man’s face, and he clears his throat carefully. “Thanks for coming for me,” he says.

Katsumoto eyes him for another long moment before shaking his head as if to clear it. “It’s nothing,” he says, obviously not wanting to discuss the matter further. “You’d have done the same thing if it were one of us.”

“Probably with even less backup,” TC chimes in knowingly. “Now, can we get out of here? This place gives me the creeps.”

“You and me both,” Magnum mutters. “Yeah, let’s go. There’s nothing else for us to do here.” 

Feeling like he can walk again, he turns to head towards the stairs and the way out. Clapping Katsumoto briefly on the shoulder as he passes him by, he doesn’t miss the way the other man grimaces. “Come on boys.”

*****

“Thomas, trust you to wind up in the hands of a sociopath who likes playing mind games when you’re dealing with what should be a run of the mill case of a guy cheating on his girlfriend.” Rick takes a hearty swig from his beer bottle, and then proceeds to eyeball Magnum over the top of it. “How the hell do you find these people?”

“They find me!” Magnum protests. “She got my number from somewhere, called me up, and said she figured Rivers was stepping out on her. She asked if I could snap some pictures to prove it, but oops, he turned out to be a killer who was going out to commit murders and not affairs. In no way is that my fault.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Higgins pipes up. Like Rick and Magnum, she’s joined TC and Katsumoto out on the veranda to enjoy a much needed cold one now that the day’s insanity has been dealt with. “You could possibly stand to have a more thorough screening process where your clients are concerned. Right now you basically take anybody who comes up to you with a sob story.”

“Regardless of whether or not they have money,” TC adds helpfully. “Call me crazy, but I think that should at least be taken into consideration.”

Magnum tries weakly to defend himself, but his heart’s not really in it. Tired after the day he’s had, he decides to sit back and watch the show, nodding at Katsumoto when he’s the only other person who doesn’t join in the conversation.

Katsumoto nods back, but it’s like his heart isn’t really in it. He’s been quiet all night, silently nursing the same beer for most of the evening, and he’s still got the troubled look from Rivers’ house gracing his features. Starting to feel a little concerned, Magnum tilts his head, silently cocking an inquisitive eyebrow to ask what’s wrong.

He gets a barely there shrug in response, and Katsumoto takes a sip of his drink in what Magnum determines is a blatant attempt to pretend like nothing’s bothering him. Thoroughly intrigued now, Magnum kicks him under the table.

That gets him a more common reaction - an eyeroll - and Katsumoto kicks him back. Not hard, but enough to tell him to back off for the time being. Sighing, Magnum does as suggested and tunes back into the conversation. 

“... should have seen him,” TC is saying now. “Crazy fool was strung up like a slab of meat in a slaughter house. Hell knows how much longer he’d have held out if Katsumoto and I hadn’t gotten there when we did.”

“It’s probably best not to speculate,” Magnum says smoothly. “The important thing is, you got there when you did, and I’m fine. Thanks, guys.”

“Anytime,” Rick promises, never mind that he hadn’t been part of the duo who’d gotten Magnum out of the basement. Apparently willing to take what credit he can, he leans over and smacks Katsumoto lightly on the back. “And here’s to the guy who answered his phone when your number came up. Admit it, Gordon, Thomas is finally starting to grow on you.”

“He’s alright,” Katsumoto says in that deadpan way of his. Again, though, there’s something off in his tone, not to mention his posture. Magnum isn’t sure what it is, but he doesn’t think he likes it.

The others engage in some more lighthearted banter for a little longer, but eventually Magnum starts yawning, unable to stop himself after the day he’s had. This seems to signal the end of the evening, and the impromptu party breaks up not long after.

Part of him is surprised to find Katsumoto in the guest house kitchen when he wanders in later - to say nothing of the fact that the man is washing dishes - but mostly he’s just pleased. “Couldn’t stay away, huh?” He quips. “Rick was right, you really do like me now.”

“I would have thought that was obvious,” Katsumoto replies without looking up from the task at hand. He gives the glass he’s holding a particularly vicious scrub. “Especially seeing as we’ve been sleeping together for weeks.”

“That we have,” Magnum acknowledges. He fights and undoubtedly fails to keep a smug grin off his face at the thought. “Are you staying tonight?”

“I probably should,” Katsumoto replies, still without looking at him. “God knows what kind of trouble you’ll get into unsupervised.”

Sidling closer until he can press himself up against Katsumoto’s side. “I actually think I’m pretty safe here. Especially with you around to look out for me.”

He’s not expecting the speed with which Katsumoto turns around, and he has to stomp down on years worth of honed instincts not to react poorly when a soapy hand comes out of nowhere to curl dripping fingers around his chin and tilt his head back. “Gordon, what the hell?”

Katsumoto’s eyes narrow, and his piercing gaze rakes him up and down. “You have a rope burn on your neck.”

“I do?” Surprised, Magnum trails his own fingers over the spot where the rope had been sitting several hours earlier. “Really?”

Katsumoto nods towards an upturned steel pot that’s sitting in the drying rack. It takes Magnum a second to clue in, but when he does he realizes that he can see the faint marks in his reflection. “Huh. I felt it chafe, but,” he shrugs, “didn’t realize it’d done anything more permanent.”

“Permanent,” Katsumoto grunts. “You were almost permanently dead, you idiot.”

Ah, he thinks to himself, so that’s the problem. Katsumoto knows full well the kind of trouble Magnum gets into on a regular basis, but this is the first serious scrape he’s faced since this thing between them had started. It’s bound to make matters a little different.

“I’m fine, Gordon,” he says, wanting to make that fact abundantly clear. “Any marks on me are going to fade. They always do.”

Katsumoto snorts, his grip tightening slightly at the same time. “Try and remember I’ve seen you naked. You’ve got plenty of marks that are there to stay, and you don’t need any more.”

“Fair point,” Magnum acknowledges. “This one will fade though, and quickly too.”

“Let’s hope so,” Katsumoto replies. Humming thoughtfully, he shifts his hand down, letting two fingers trail over the line now adorning Magnum’s throat. “God, that was close.”

In answer, Magnum brings one of his own hands up to curl around Katsumoto’s wrist. “It was,” he agrees, because denying as much right now seems like a really bad idea. “But you came. You saved me. Just like I knew you would.”

“Hmm.” Without breaking eye contact, Katsumoto starts leaning in ...

... only to pull back immediately at the sound of someone clearing their throat.

“Sorry, boys,” Higgins says, although going by the grin on her face, she doesn’t look it. “I was about to turn in for the night, and wanted to tell Magnum to sleep well. Didn’t realize you were still here, Detective.”

“Well, now you know,” Magnum grumps, annoyed at being interrupted. “You can also leave anytime you want.”

Her grin widening, Higgins crosses her arms over her chest, and tilts her head up in that obnoxious way she does when she knows she’s being a little shit and she’s enjoying it. “Is that any way to speak to a friend who’s come to check up on you?”

“I’m already being checked out,” Magnum says, shooting a pointed nod towards Katsumoto, who’s backed up far enough that his hand has fallen away. “And you’re ruining it.”

Higgins shifts her gaze to Katsumoto, and her grin softens somewhat. “Sorry, Gordon. I suppose I should have known you’d still be here.”

“Yes. You should have,” Magnum agrees before Katsumoto can say anything. “Now, you know I’m in good hands, so your presence isn’t required. Goodnight, Higgins.”

“And she thinks I’m annoying,” he says as Higgins heads back the way she came, still snickering. “I really should beef up the security around here.”

Katsumoto snorts. “I’m not touching that one,” he says flatly.

“No?” Magnum asks. Then he grins and wriggles his way back into Katsumoto’s personal space. “What about touching me?”

“That is, god, that’s so bad,” Katsumoto complains, even as his arms come up to wind around Magnum’s waist and drag him in close. “So, so bad.”

“You love it,” Magnum assures him, the last word turning into a groan as warm lips begin leaving a trail along his throat, and big, sturdy hands find their way into his back pockets. “Ohh, that’s nice.”

“I knew you’d come,” he says, suddenly needing to make that clear. He hisses when Katsumoto nips him sharply, teeth sinking in right above the rope mark, but soldiers on even with the distraction. “As soon as he called you, I stopped being worried. I knew you’d get there in time.”

“Almost didn’t,” Katsumoto grunts, voice muffled. “If you’d stumbled or gotten tired or ...”

Magnum kisses him; partly to cut off the stream of self-recriminations, but mainly because he can’t not. He wants what he wants, and after the day he’s had, he thinks he can be forgiven for going after it.

Things get a little hazy after that, and the rest of the dishes certainly don’t get washed. Somehow they wind up on the couch, and by the time he can focus again, Magnum finds himself staring up at the ceiling, his sides heaving as Katsumoto determinedly wrings the final aftershocks from his body.

“Holy shit,” he pants, fighting to get his breath back. “If that’s the kind of reward it’s going to land me, I’ll be getting kidnapped a lot more often.”

Katsumoto bites him on the shoulder. Hard. 

“Not funny,” he says, ignoring Magnum’s indignant squawk. “You do that to me again, and I’ll lock you up myself.”

“Kinky,” Magnum snickers, even as he rubs at the tender patch of skin where Katsumoto’s teeth had sunk in. “I’ve gotta tell you, Gordon, you’re really not selling this whole ‘Don’t rush headlong into danger’ thing.”

Katsumoto gets a hand on his cheek and tilts his head up until they’re forced to make eye contact. “I mean it, Thomas,” he says, face serious. “Do not do that to me again. Today was ... not good.”

His eyes are dark, solemn, and any urge Magnum has to continue making light of the situation fades as they keep gazing at each other. He licks suddenly dry lips. “You know I can’t promise nothing will happen to me, right? In my line of work ...”

Katsumoto cuts him off. “I’m not asking for that. All I’m asking is that you be a little more careful. And that you maybe call for backup before the darkest hour once in a while. It’s just a thought.”

“You get mad when I waste police resources,” Magnum insists. “That’s a direct quote and everything.”

“No it isn’t,” Katsumoto says flatly, “and there’s a difference between wasting resources and calling with a legitimate concern. I know you know that.”

“Yeah,” Magnum admits because he feels like now would be a bad time to start cracking dumb jokes again. “I do.”

Katsumoto shakes him gently. “Then listen to me. No more unnecessary heroics. If it happens again, I’ll sic Higgins on you.”

“That’s just mean,” Magnum pouts. “She has way too much fun with that kind of thing. Remember when you lied and told her I had a concussion? She woke me up eight times that night to check on me.”

“Thereby ensuring you didn’t die in your sleep. The horror.”

“I didn’t have a concussion!”

“How could I know that?” Katsumoto asks. “You wouldn’t let me take you to a doctor.”

About to fire off another retort, Magnum pauses. “Was that another example of my unnecessary heroics?”

Katsumoto rolls his eyes. “What do you think?”

Groaning, Magnum shifts so that he can press himself up against the other man’s body, and idly traces a finger over his chest. “Fine,” he says heavily, “you’ve got a deal.”

Katsumoto catches his hand, and raises it to his lips where he presses a kiss to the back of it. “Thanks.”


End file.
